Sunday, March 27, 2011

So, I have been ALL over the place lately. March 11-13th: Idaho. March 17-23: Jersey. And now, this past weekend, March 25-26, I was in Las Vegas.

Just on Thursday, I was invited by MTV to an exclusive, private event at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Britney Spears was there to perform a couple songs from her new album as promotion. My co-worker and best friend, Justine, and I went, and had an INCREDIBLE time. We were legitimately 5 FEET AWAY from Ms. Britney Spears. It was epic. She performed "Hold It Against Me," "Big Fat Bass," and "Til' The World Ends."

Here is a picture at the event that I snuck. Below that picture is a picture that Britney tweeted after her performance of her about the same time I took my picture...Just from a different angle.

Picture from MTV.com

...Well, I know you're probably thinking what does this have to do with being Mormon? Well, not much, but Justine and I had a couple experiences at the show that were pretty cool.

Experience #1: As we were entering the venue, we met this girl that was dressed fairly immodest, and holding an alcoholic drink. She asked us where we were from, and we told her that we drove down from Utah, and she said, "Oh, I grew up Mormon." Right then, I just got so sad, because even though she may LOOK like she is having fun with "living life" and parties, she gave up the one thing that will ever TRUELY make her happy. It is my hope that she will one day realize what she lost.

Experience #2: Inside the event, Justine and I met another guy and girl at the event that flew in from San Diego. They were very friendly. They asked us if they could get us a drink, and we declined. They asked, "Do you not drink?" We said, "No, we don't drink ever." Now, people can choose their response, and while they could have said, "Wow, you are missing out. You're lame," they said, "Oh, that's really cool, I respect that. Good for you." It made me happy to know that there are people out their that do respect my choices even though they aren't "popular."

Anyway, all in all, it was a really fantastic, great, and short trip to Las Vegas.

I also got to eat at my favorite frozen yogurt eatery...Yogurtland! Yummmmm!!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hello everyone. I am in Philadelphia, about to hop on an aeroplane to Atlanta, but only to connect to get to Salt Lake City.

I am sad to have to leave home so quickly. But, I'll survive. It was a great trip home. I didn't get ONE day of sleeping in on my vacation (but that's okay). I worked Friday, Monday, and Tuesday at the school I used to work at in Princeton. One of my favorite things about coming home is seeing the students and staff at the school. It makes me so happy! I love it there. I went into New York City on Saturday with my Mom and went shopping. I got a new suit. Horray for that! Sunday was great, because it's always the best feeling for me to be back in my home ward with all the people I know and love. I got to see a movie with Ivana (my neighborhood and best friend growing up all throughout middle and high school), and I hung out with Lisa (who is going on her mission to Brazil, discussed in the post right below this one).

Yesterday, my best friend/cousin, Lauren left the MTC, and flew to her mission where she will be serving in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I'm so excited for her. She'll be great.

Well, it's about time to board, and about time for me to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I was in my home ward today in Princeton, New Jersey, and it was one of my very best friend's, Lisa's, mission farewell. Lisa will be spending the next year and a half serving the wonderful peole of Brazil. She spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and it was one of the best and most spiritual Sacrament Meetings I've ever been to. The moment Lisa got up to speak, I could feel of her spirit and desire to serve a mission. Lisa shared some personal experiences she had that brought her to where she is at now. She spoke of how at the last Fast and Testimony Meeting, a lot of our recent converts got up to bear their testimonies and how those testimony's strengthened hers. It's really amazing...We don't have many members in New Jersey, but the ones we do have are very strong.

Lisa has always been a very positive and uplifting friend in my life. She has always been there for me whenever I needed to talk to someoone, and we always have so much fun when we are hanging out. She is determined and strong in the church. She is like a big sister to Krista. I'm thankful to know and be friends with someone who is such an inspiring example to me. She will make a most excellent missionary, and the people of Brazil will feel of her Spirit and be brough to know of the Gospel through Lisa's testimony.

Here are some pictures of Lisa and I doing various things in various places (Las Vegas, Jersey Shore, ESPN GameDay, Hiking The 'Y', Ice Skating in NYC, etc.).

Sunday, March 13, 2011

I am currently up in Blackfoot, Idaho (just south of Idaho Falls) right now visiting cousins and extended family. (Same cousins I went to Seattle with). Well, I just got home from their church ward here, and the speaker spoke on humility.

He said something I really liked. I don't know if he came up with it himself or if it was a quote by someone else, but here it is:

"We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves. We discover humility by thinking less ABOUT ourselves."

Sunday, March 6, 2011

My friend Rory got his mission call this past Wednesday. He will be serving in LONDON, ENGLAND! I am so excited for him. He will be an incredible representative for the Lord in Lond. I love my modern brother, and I'm thankful for the example he is to me.

Friday, March 4, 2011

So, I still need to update about last weekend (I know...I'm only 7 days late). At some point in my life, I hope to have caught up a little bit.

Last Friday was pretty adventurous. Justine and I went out to IKEA to shop for furniture (we share an office at work). Well, we bought a really long table, two office chairs, two garbage buckets, two power cords, and some other items of office-ness. We even ate dinner at IKEA. The bottom of my Pear Sparkling Cider said "Alkoholfri" (Alcohol Free). HAHAHA! You're not laughing... ... ... Well, I thought it was funny.

Um...as we were wheeling out our purchase, the table hit some register sign, and almost knocked it down. That was great.

Then...As we were trying to load stuff into my car, it wouldn't all fit. We already had to put down the back seats and take off the passenger headrest so the table would fit. But, there was NO way to fit one of the office chairs. So, what did we do? We opened the box in the parking lot and fit pieces of chair anywhere we could. It was too funny.

We drove to a theater nearby to see the highly anticipated and talked about (maybe we hear so much talk about it because we are around high schoolers all day) Justin Bieber movie, "Never Say Never." Honestly, SUCH a great movie! It made me respect him as an artist SO much more. Spoiler alert:

My 3 Favorite Parts:
-The slow motion and famous Justin Bieber Hair Toss scene to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair". Too funny.
-Justin approaching a girl playing the violin on a street corner he used to play on, and giving her inspirational words of advice. Down to Earth.
-Justin's Mom watching Justin perform at Madison Square Garden and crying. I'm kind of cheesy, but I love watching a proud parent talk about and watch their child. It's just an unexplainable good feeling I get. I guess, being able to see and determine how much love a parent has for their child just by observing a parent's actions just makes me happy. It reminds me of how much my parents love and are proud of me.
...Go see this movie.

On Saturday evening, we put together our furniture. That was yet another adventure. I actually feel very accomplished that I was able to put together office chairs and a table. Power tools are fun.

Oh, and we found a huge sign that said "Muffin Express." Justine made me take a picture with it. My family will think this is funny...